Ever felt that you spend hours writing blogs only to find that it does not deliver the results you want? You’re not alone! I see many bloggers putting in tons of work, and not seeing it turn into traffic, engagement, or income. This is where the 80/20 rule for blogging comes into play — a simple yet powerful concept will change your blogging game completely.
In this post, we’ll unpack what is the 80/20 rule (also called the Pareto Principle), how it applies to blogging, and how to apply it to help you grow your blog faster but smarter without burning you out.
Understanding the 80/20 Rule
80/20 Rule: 80% of Your Results Come From 20% of Your Efforts It was first discovered by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by just 20% of the population. This principle was discovered to be true for many areas of life aside from just writing, including in business, productivity, and—you guessed it—blogging!
When applied to blogging, the 80/20 rule means:
20% of your blog posts give you 80% of your traffic.
20 percent of your monetization strategies contribute to 80 percent of your income.
20% of your readers generate 80% of your engagement.
20% of your content gets you 80% of your backlinks.
Sounds crazy, right? But once you start looking at your own blog, you’ll probably notice these patterns. Therefore, the point is to find the 20% of efforts that will give you 80% of your gains and to work on those.
Applying 80/20 Rule to Blogging
Now that you know the basics, let’s delve into how to use the 80/20 principle to actually blog smarter, not harder.
Double Down on Your Best-Performing Blog Posts
Rather than trying to write a bunch of new posts, take a look at the ones you’ve already got and see what’s driving the most traffic. You can verify this by using Google Analytics or Google Search Console.
What to do next?
Revamp and refresh those top renditions so they stay fresh and on-trend.
Use Internal Links to Get More Traffic to Posts.
How to Optimize Post for SEO using better keywords, images, and Meta descriptions.
Create videos, social media posts, or even an email series out of them.
Write Less, Promote More
However, the average blogger spends their time writing 80% and 20% promoting the content. That’s backward! Consider it as the other way round: 20% writing and 80% promotion.
When should you make it known?
You are invoked on data up to October 2023.
Join Facebook groups and the Reddit threads concerning your niche.
You can republish on Medium or LinkedIn Articles.
Leverage email marketing for repeat traffic
Other bloggers that I could ask to backlink and collaborate with you.
Understand Which Monetization Methods Are the Most Profitable
When you are monetizing your blog, not all income streams are equal. Most of your earnings will come from a few revenue sources – this is the thing called the 80/20 rule.
What to do?
Review your earnings and reinvest in what’s paying off the most.
If affiliate marketing is your biggest revenue generator, prioritize high-converting programs.
If you find that sponsored posts are lucrative, approach more brands that fall in the same niche as you.
If your own products (ebooks, courses) sell well – leverage that to create premium lead content.
Engage With Your Best Readers
Not every reader is engaged. A small portion of your audience will be the most loyal ones; they will be the ones commenting, sharing, and buying from you.
How to engage them?
Build an email list and provide information.
Launch a Facebook group or online community.
Provide exclusive content such as webinars or paid guides.
To establish rapport—respond to comments and messages personally.
Automate Low-Value Tasks
Time is your most precious resource. Don’t spend it on tasks that you keep repeating and aren’t producing results.
What can you automate?
Social media posts created with tools such as Buffer or Hootsuite.
Email sequences done in ConvertKit or Mailchimp
AI-driven keyword research tools
AI-powered summarizers in content repurposing.
Focusing less on low-impact stuff, you end up with more time to do the content that actually moves the needle.
The 80/20 Rule In Blogging: The 20% That Brings In 80% Business
Those who do use the Pareto Principle in their blogging strategy enjoy significant advantages, such as:
Quicker growth: Focusing on what works makes your blog grow faster.
Less burnout: No more working on stuff that brings no results;
More income: Prioritising your top earning streams means that you’ll work with less effort to earn more.
More engagement: Developing relationships with your dedicated readers will convert them into fans who will promote your blog on your behalf.
Greater freedom: You will have increased time to work on new concepts, travel or just chill!
Final Thoughts
We can make blogging do-able, without feeling overwhelmed! Working smarter as opposed to harder, employing the 80/20 rule can allow you to work on only the things that generate high-quality results.
So take a step back and scrutinize your blog. What’s working? What’s not? When doing so, double down on the 20% of efforts that are driving 80% of the results.
So are you ready to apply this rule yourself to your blog? Tell me in the comments what your first focus is going to be!